My Thoughts: Heavy Words Lightly Thrown, The Reason Behind the Rhyme, Chris Roberts

I'm really not much of a non-fiction reader, I always mean to read more but some how get caught up in fiction books and never make it on to something that is real. This book was brought years ago, back when I was a University, and more than likely brought because it had a cool cover.

The book features a huge mix of nursery rhymes, giving us the history of how the rhyme originated, or the various theories of where the rhyme originated as well as information about different versions of the rhyme in history and in other countries across the world.

I enjoyed the book for the most part, and as the book is written in short chapters -each chapter dedicated to a different rhyme I read it during the ad breaks while watching Big Brother (a reality show in England - not something I should admit to watching!). My only problem was one, that after a while the origins of the tales all merge into one and that my knowledge of history is shockingly poor. I know a little about the Romantic period and World War 1 and 2 and nothing else! I think if I could place the names of the Kings and Queens with the events he was talking about I would have got more from the book, even so I still got a lot from the book.

I loved the language, each nursery rhyme is discussed in a fairly chatty style, almost like you have an interesting mate down the pub talking to you about it. Also the drawings for each rhyme where fantastic, I could only find one example to illustrate but it's a good example.

If you have read this book or blogged about it leave a comment and I'll link your thoughts to the post.

My Thoughts: A Dog So Small, Phillipa Pearce

Curled up on the couch to let the gogeous Tapas I had for lunch digest and finished a couple of chapters of Gone With the Wind and then this little gem of a kids book.

A Dog So Small is a quaint little tale about a little boy, the middle of 5 children so often the lonely one who believes he is going to get a dog for his birthday. He is desperately disappointed when a picture of a dog arrives through the post instead. Ben continues to want a dog, but knowing that it isn't feasible where he and his family live in London he keeps his dream to himself and ends up with an imaginary dog.

This book would be ideal for a quiet child, it isn't full of adventures or the unimaginable like other kids books that are out today, but it creates a cosy little atmosphere to curl up with.

If you've read this book or blogged about it leave a comment and I'll link your thoughts to my blog.

My Thoughts: Elizabeth Costello, Coetzee

Every time I pick up a novel by Coetzee the standard gets better and better. The first Disgrace was, wellin my opinion a digrace how it won the Booker Prize I'll never know, that put me off for many years till earlier this year I read Waiting For the Barbarian's a good read, this latest novel Elizabeth Costello was fantastic. I was gripped from page one and it wasn't even my type of novel.
Elizabeth Costello is a famous novelist, she is now elderly and has produced a wide span of work but still remains known for her first book. In her old age she no longer writes but completes the lecture circuit, giving lectures on everything from fiction to animal rights. I said this was not my type of book because it seems (cynically) as a way for Coetzee to show his intellect, viewpoints and arguments spewing them out through his mouthpiece, Elizabeth Costello. But I was gripped because the arguments were interesting, attention grabbing. Elizabeth's life seems pretty much a mess, but the majority of the novel focused on her lectures, how they unravelled as she got closer to death.

Challenges:
I read this book for The What's in A Name Challenge and my project to complete the 1001 BooksYou Must Read Before You Die List

My Thoughts: The Space Between Us, Thirty Umrigar

The Space Between Us is a novel about the relationship between a servant and her employer in Bombay. One lives in the slums, the other in a nice apartment, one has to work long hours everyday the other complains if she has to make breakfast. Despite this their is a bond between the two women, they would not class themselves as friends for the social divide between them is just to great a step to bridge, but they rely on each other for support. And despite the social divide their lives frequently parallel each others. Until an event occurs which puts this bond to the test.

This book falls into that area of books about Eastern communities which we seem to be swamped with at the moment. Communities which have huge social and gender divides and which seem a million miles away from the concerns of the Western world. I certainly wouldn't say this is one of the best examples but it is a good read, some thing perhaps that fits in as an easy read between harder/heavier books. The relationships are well constructed, believable but I could see the conclusion coming from miles away, there were no surprises with this novel. I also felt that I would like to have spent more time seeing what life was like in the slums of Bombay. As seems to be a regular thing with these books, they were centred around the women giving us their views on the absent men in their lives.

I read this for the Notable Book Challenge Book 2 of 8

Other Bloggers thoughts:

Musings, Wendy's thoughts

"Cathedral" by Raymond Carver (Short Story)

This is the first short story I have read as partof my participation in A Curious Singularity, a blog in which they read a short story each month.
This month the chosen short story was 'Cathedral' by Raymond Carver. I have read his short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love last year so I was expecting something great and that is what I got.
There will be spoilers in this from now on so if your planning on reading it or would like to read it first click on the title, it is just a few pages long.
In the story the narrator appears a little unfriendly from the start, too blunt and very negative. He spends the first part of the story complaining about how he has his wife's friend, a blind man, coming to stay for a few days. I got the feeling he would have been grouchy however was coming to stay, but he felt particuarly put out because the guest was blind. He also seemed put out as his wife and the blind man seem to have a very close relationship, something you just can't imagine the narrator having.
When the guest arrives the narrator feels very awkward with him, and resorts to turning on the TV as a destraction, the wife falls asleep and the men are forced to communicate. On the TV there is a show about Cathedrals and he realises the blind man has no idea what a cathedral is. After failing to describe it well, he draws a picture of it with the blind man following his hand movements. This moment of touch and the drawing of the cathedral seems to wake the narrator up to life and where he is.

I found this was a really good read, the voice of the narrator is well played out in the sparseness of the tone. It also really reminded me of an English lesson I taught with a young blind boy, the children where talking about their past time and we realised he had no concept of golf or fishing, what happened, how big the golf ball was etc. His mentor managed to bring in some golfing gear to let him feel and we tried our best to describe a fishing rod but it was a lot harder than I had imagined it would be.

For another review of the story check out A Work in Progress

My Thoughts: A Pure Swift Cry, Siobhan Dowd

I have meant to read this book for a few years now, but never quite got around to it (like many other books) so when I saw it on the Notable Books challenge I added it to my list of challenge books, and I'm really glad I did.

This book is categorised as young adult fiction but is definately part of the cross over genre.

The book is set in Ireland, in a small rural village. The Talent family are busy coming to terms with their mother's recent death and the relative abandonment of their father. Shell may be only 15 but she is the one left responsibe for running the house, feeding her father and acting like a mother to her younger brother and sister. The occupants in the village mey feel sorry foe Shell and her family but they offer little to help, usually just sympathetic glances. When Father Rose arrives in the village Shell thinks she has found a friend and Jesus, but this relationship is not to last long. Shell then retreats into finding comfort with the local choir boy, Declan Ronan, a child who doesn't quite follow with the rules of Catholicism. A scandal occurs with Shell lft smack bang in the middle of it.

As an adult reading this your able to look on and see the mistake she is making, and see the reality of situation that she is too naive to be able to read herself. A great story about growing up and dealing with what life throws at you.

5/5

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

My Thoughts: Daughter of Fortune, Isabel Allende

This is my second Isabel Allende novel and I will certinly be going back for more. It wasn't what I was expecting as I had been led to believe that all of her work was magical realism but this one certainly wasn't, but it was still a great read.

The novel is set in Chile in the 1840's. A young British family bring up their 'adopted' child Eliza into the colonialist culture of the area. Their is much discrepancy about Eliza's parentage and she is even left unsure about her national heritage. Like many children belonging to rich families she is expected to follow all the rules and customs of her class yet she is largely left to be brought up by the sevants in the kitchen. The novel follows Eliza through her childhood till she meets her first love. He promptly leaves her, leaving for the Gold Ruch in California and she follows him, leaving the world of riches for a place of prostitutes, slaves, murder and poverty.

Allende created a novel which caused you to consider human greed, racism and the treatment of woman in a variety of cultures. The novel had some fantastic scenes spanning from England, Chile, California and over to China. Each character was well rounded and believeable. The only thing I would say is that it could have done with being just a little shorter.

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Read for my Around the World Challenge and the 20th Century Project.

Chech out Adventures in Readings review of this book here

My Thoughts: The Sandman: Dream Country, Neil Gaiman

My first Graphic Novel ever! And my first read for the Graphic Novel Challenge. I picked a Neil Gaiman as I am interested in reading more of his work since reading some of his short stories that he has posted on his blog, see here for my mini review, I also have my first Neil Gaiman novel arriving in the next week so I'll be able to compare his style in that.

Now, not having a clue about Graphic novels I ordered The Sandman: Dream Country from the library, recognising the title Sandman and not realising at all that this was in the middle of a series, having enjoyed it I will now look for the first volume and maybe work my way through all of them.

This book was composed of 4 stories: Calliope, A Dream of a Thousand Cats, A Midsummer Nights Dream and Facade. I loved reading the first 3 in particular A Midsummer Nights Dream, in which the theatre troop is taken by Will Shakespeare to perform his famous play on the Downs in Sussex, to a rather unusual audience. The illustations where fantastic and I really loved the scene when the 'Longman' of the Sussex Downs opens up to reveal the audience.

I also really loved the idea of the cats in A Dream of a Thousand Cats attempting to change the universe with their dreams, something people aim to do all the time.

The fourth story was the only one that reall didn't hold my attention, it was a bit too sci-fi for my tastes.

I'll certainly be reading more graphic novels in the future.

Part of my 20th Century Challenge

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

My Thought: Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones

I have been meaning to read this book since it came out and I had it down for a few different challenges, so I was very happy when it arrived as part of a bookring, a great book and free too!
The novel is focused on a small island in Papa New Guinea, the islands men have travelled to Australia to work in the mines leaving the women and children on the island till they can find a way to join the men. Then war strikes, daily routines are hit and dreams of seeing fathers and husbands again are put on hold.
The only white man on the island decides to start up the school again, many of the lessons are dedicated to Great Expectations, the children are gripped. Matilda the main character uses the novel as a means of escape from the war and also a way to understand the world around her.
I thought that this was one of the best reads of this year so far. The language was fantastic, the characters well rounded and the shock well placed. Definately a novel I'll be recommending to others.
Challenges:
Book 3/3 for I Heard it Through the Grapevine
Book 9/9 for Orbis Terravm
Book 4/6 for 2008 Booker Challenge
Also part of my ongoing project to read a book from each country in the world

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.
Read other peoples thoughts about Mister Pip:
Raidergirl3's thoughts
Trevor's thoughts

Lizzy's thoughts

Short Story: Briar Rose by Kim Antieau

This is a hugely powerful short story about a young girl who wakes up in a hospital room, she has no recollection of who she is, how she got here and why her arms are covered in fresh wounds. Her first memory is triggered by a small tattoo of a rose.
The girls past is gradually revealed to her through the images she draws on her body, each image reveals another episode in her, another reality for her to accept.

This is really well written and the idea of being able to rub off all the wrongs that have been done is refreshing. A copy of the story can be found

My Thoughts: The Plague - Camus

This novel is based around a small Algerian city in which a plague gradually develops leaving the inhabitants of the city prisoners in the town. The book focuses primarily on small group of doctors and their friends who are working on the cure of the plague, attending the sick and dying and also who are asked to help in the regulations of the city.

I expected this novel to have more of an effect on me, to be more powerful and shocking. If I hadn't been reading it for a bookring I don't know if I would have carried on reading it. I'm not saying it was poorly written, just not as gripping as it could have been.
If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Read for the Nobels Project
Book 8/9 for Orbis Terravm Challenge

June Reading List (Proposed)

To finish Daughter of Fortune - Allende
The Plague - Camus (for Nobel project)
Elizabeth Costello - Coetzee (for Whats in a Name Challenge)
The Red Queen - Drabble (for What's in a Name Challenge and 1001 Books)
What I Loved -Hutverdt (for 1001 Books)
The Space Between Us (for Notable Books Challenge)
Mister Pip (For Booker and I Heard it Through the Grapevine)